Posts by Paul Litterick
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FWIW = not very much. I was asking why Banks writes under two names and suggesting a possible reason. The fact of you being broadly read does not answer that question or negate that suggestion.
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Ian Banks is a literary author; Ian M Banks is a Sci-Fi author. Pause for a moment to consider why he takes a modified name for his Sci-Fi work? Could it be that People of Sci-Fi are hostile to literary fiction and read books only if they are labelled as part of the Sci-Fi genre?
It is not the books shops that are creating the categories; it is the writers and their readers.
Giovanni: ashamed... disdainfully... rabble... cause; does rejection hurt that much?
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I am not going to bother with the "better than Atwood" slur; it is not widely held. As for the arrogance and dismissiveness, you tell me what your sub-culture wants to be called (People of Science-Fiction, perhaps) and I will try to remember to employ it in all future correspondence.
I think this is all evidence of a massive inferiority complex. Sci-Fi aficionados want a genre for themselves, but know it is limited; they get offended when anyone from outside criticises their genre; they claim outsiders as their own, to bolster their self-esteem, but still maintain that their greats are better than the outsiders. They want to be left alone and recognised at the same time. In a word: Emo.
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Also, I'm tempted to say, call me back when...
You are entitled to you opinion, peculiar though it may be.
The angstyness of Sci-Fi fans is extraordinary. Why should it matter what Atwood calls her own writing and why are Sci-Fi people so determined to prove her wrong?
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It really doesn't matter. All the excitement seems to come from Sci-Fi readers who try to claim literary fiction writers as their own. Atwood and Banks, like Orwell and Wells, are simply good writers. They do not write for a fanbase or within a genre.
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To call Atwood a Sci-Fi author is to ignore most of her work.
Wells and Orwell may both have been British sensible left-wingers, but their fiction is quite different. Wells writes of scientific possibilities, Orwell of human ones. Speculative Fiction is a useful category for works like 1984.
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What has been gained is peace of mind. The Police could spend a lot of time arresting drunks for anti-social behaviour, but it is a lot better to have fewer drunks on the streets.
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New Zealand is a long way to go for a shag. I hope those one or two men found it worth the journey.
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Russell Brown or Russell Brand, that is the question.